The National Basketball Association on Thursday suspended Sacramento Kings guard Jason Williams without pay for the first five games of next season for not complying with his treatment requirements under the league's anti-drug program.
Williams, 25, one of the league's most exciting and publicized players, reportedly tested positive for marijuana and failed the league-mandated test last October, according to two league sources.
Neither Williams nor his agent, Bill Pollak, was available for comment Thursday. The Kings released a brief statement from the third-year guard:
"I accept the NBA's decision. I must be responsible for my actions. The ball is in my court."
Williams and Pollak met with league and players' union officials Thursday in New York to discuss Williams' situation.
Team vice president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie said the league told him about the suspension on Wednesday.
"The NBA's (anti-drug) program is totally run, regulated and supervised by the league," Petrie said. "(Williams') No. 1 obligation with regards to this right now is to fulfill whatever (his) obligations are under this program and go forward from there.
"As a team, we're certainly going to be 100 percent supportive of his positive choices going forward, but we are not involved in that."
This is not the first time Williams has tested positive for marijuana and been forced to miss games.
In 1998, as a sophomore at the University of Florida, he twice tested positive for marijuana and was kicked off the team. When he joined the Kings, Williams said he would be honest about his problems in college with marijuana.
"I messed up, I'm human. I've just tried to put it behind me and tried to move on," he said at the time.
Rumors about Williams' drug use have circulated for some time, but Thursday's suspension was the first evidence that the star guard from West Virginia had run afoul of the league's drug-testing program. As part of the January 1999 collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players' association, marijuana for the first time was included among the drugs subject to testing. All players were randomly tested for banned substances during the 1999 exhibition season. The NBA's anti-drug program long has been assailed by critics for its confidential nature. The vagueness of the NBA's statement on the suspension leaves unanswered the questions of exactly how Williams failed to comply.
The same sources, however, said it was Williams' failure, after testing positive in October, to communicate with those connected with the league's program that ultimately brought him to the point of suspension. According to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, players cannot be dismissed or disqualified for marijuana use alone on a first violation.
A summary of the key elements of the league's program states that "a player's failure to comply with his in-patient or after-care treatment while in the program will result in substantial fines and suspensions, which will be imposed until that player fully complies with the requirements of the program."
Williams' 2000-01 contract will pay him $2.01 million, and the five-game suspension without pay will cost him $122,621. In addition, he has placed a number of his benefits in jeopardy with his suspension. Williams is in the third season of a four-year contract. The Kings hold an option for a fifth year. Absent the signing of an extension with the Kings, Williams would become a free agent following the fifth year and eligible for a new deal that could reach six years and $87 million. Williams has been a highly-sought player in marketing circles and is in the midst of a five-year, $5 million contract with the Nike athletic company.
He's frequently featured in promotions by the league and the Kings' visit last season to Japan to open the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves was in no small part due to Williams' national and international popularity. During the past season, Kings owner Joe Maloof said he was told by league officials that Williams' No. 55 jersey was the league's hottest-selling jersey.
The Kings have had better weeks. First, coach Rick Adelman learned Tuesday that valuable free-agent guard Tony Delk had decided to leave the team for his Pacific Division rival, the Phoenix Suns. Teams also received preliminary schedules this week, and Adelman learned that the Kings open the season with four straight road games. As of this point, the lone point guard on Adelman's roster is Darrick Martin, who ended the season third on the depth chart. Adelman said his major concern is Williams' well-being and career. "We're going to lose him for five games," the coach said, "but I'm more concerned that he meets this head-on and makes the appropriate changes so he can get on with his career and make the most of it."
